A Place To Be Called Home
by TheRavenIsUnSkill
Summary: What starts as a paranormal investigation of a disappearance of 4 people by some online forum chatters becomes an adventure no one expected. In Progress.


This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic, so please excuse any poor writing skills on my part. Im writing this mainly for my own amusement, comments welcome :)

DISCLAIMER: El Hazard and its characters are the property of Hiroki Hayashi and Ryoe Tsukimura as well as AIC/Pioneer/Geneon. All else is created by me. So um, yes. This story takes place at different periods in time, so I hope you can keep up with it. Enjoy :)

**A place to call home.**

_Chapter 1_

Staring blankly at his homework, Ian sighed.

After a long day at school, then work, plus overtime, the last thing he wanted to do was work on this. He took a sip of his drink, enjoying the fizzle as he swallowed the soda. In the background, his kid brother was blasting away at aliens on his gaming console, quite caught up and oblivious to his surroundings. It was rather distracting, but workable.

"Ill figure this out tomorrow." he thought out loud, closing the textbook and sliding it into the bookshelf by his chair. As he stood up, he grabbed his drink and started towards the stairs.

He paused for a moment as he passed the TV, watching as another enemy had its head shot off at the hands of his brother.

"Didn't you beat this level last week?" He quipped. After a few moments, his brother turned to him.

"I did, but I want 100 completion. If I get that, maybe my online achievement points will go up."

"Ahah." said Ian. His brother was quite a perfectionist when it came to video games. Now if only he would have that same enthusiasm when it came to school...

"Don't stay up too late. I'm heading to bed" Ian replied, then turned and walked up the nearby stairs.

He reached the second floor, walking past the opened door to his room and into the washroom to brush his teeth. After a few minutes, he turned off the light and headed to his room.

Shutting the door, he turned to his computer and flicked on the nearby lamp.

"Let's see what new on the boards" he muttered to himself as he moved his mouse to bring the system out of standby mode.

His first destination was the same as always. 100percentparanormal was the website

For many years, Ian had been fascinated with the paranormal, from UFOs to Ghosts, to unexplained events, and more. If you asked him why, he would just answer "Because no one knows the truth behind it". He fancied himself someone who needed to know why things happened the way they do, and when it came to these things, it was the pursuit of answers that he enjoyed the most.

Clicking through the forum posts, he quickly opened a few windows of the most interesting ones.

"UFO Knoxdale, Ohio", "I just spotted a ghost in the forest", "Abnormal Radar Sighting in China", he browsed through them all, viewing any photos with curiosity.

He could tell after years of studying which were obvious fakes, and which required more attention.Unfortunately for today, most posts appeared to be unfounded.

"Well that's a bummer" he sighed as he sipped the last of his soda, putting on his headphones as he started his stereo system.

As he listened to his rock music, he skimmed the archives for past entries he had seen or missed. He scrolled down until he saw the post he was looking for.

"The Shinonome Incident: Part 2 of 2"

Ian knew it well. The story behind it was too incredible to forget. He had been caught up in the story for the past months, scouring the Net for anything and everything about what had happened.

"No new posts it seems." he spoke out loud, reading over old chatter and debate over what exactly had happened.

The story itself was truly something. On July 16th 1995 an unknown explosion of light and incredible force occurred at a high school in the town of Shinonome Japan, severely damaging the school and several surrounding homes and businesses. The official word was it was caused by a gas leak, but many had questioned the final report. In the aftermath, 8 people were injured. But then there were 'the four'. Those four were what mystified Ian he most. Immediately after the incident, 3 students and 1 teacher were never seen or heard from again, disappearing without a trace. Some forum chatters had hypothesized they were killed in the explosion, others say they fled into hiding for fear of being blamed for it. Others thought aliens abducted them. 'Hah' he thought, chuckling as he browsed around the thread. He stopped when he found a photo of the aftermath.

The photo was blurry, but it clearly showed the gymnasium of Shinonome High school; the roof blown off and 2 walls crumbled over. Lots of burn marks were visible on the walls, and a nearby tree was bent in a position that boggled the mind.

The photo had been posted by the most prominent chatter in the thread, 'shinonomegnome'. No one knew much about him, other than his enthusiasm for the incident his screen name indicated. Over the past few weeks he had posted photos, police logs, security camera images, even a death certificate for one of the missing victims. Ian shuddered when he tried to think how he could have come across that.

Ian had been hoping to see new posts from him, but for the last week he had gone silent on the forums. Ian sighed as he decided to call it a night.

'There's always tomorrow' he thought as he turned off his stereo and put his headphones down on the desk. He climbed out of his chair and into his bed, shutting off the lamp as he tried to make up for the long day he had endured.

-----------------

The sound of birds chirping in the distance was the first thing Makoto Mizuhara heard as he woke from his slumber. It was both a sign of the day to come, and also a realization of another day at work in his laboratory.

He rose out of bed, stretching as he stepped into his slippers and walked over to the nearby kitchen to make himself some breakfast. It was to be a busy day. In the nearby room, Ura hopped off her chair and wandered over to her master.

"Makoto Up!" she exclaimed as she rubbed herself against his leg. Makoto smiled

"Morning Ura, did you sleep well?" he said as he started chopping a root up for breakfast.

Glancing out the window, he noticed that the clouds from the previous night were now gone, and a bright sun shone through, illuminating the room. As he prepared breakfast, his thoughts wandered to today's work. He remembered a prior engagement with Nanami for lunch at her restaurant, but other than that his schedule was free, free to use for his work.

Ever since the incident with the phantom tribe, ever since the day Ifurita had vanished, whispered away to his earth, he had been working. Thinking of way to use the Eye to bring her back to him. Today would be no exception.

He had high hopes for today, he had retrieved an ancient relic from the marketplace the day before. It had been sold as a trinket, which Makoto had found was a common occurrence in the markets. A quick way to make some cash over useless trash. But he knew better. Each device was like a new hope for him and his research.

Finishing his preparations he went to sit and eat his breakfast. Ura followed.

"Here you go Ura. Eat up." Makoto said as he put down a dish for his feline friend to eat.

As he ate he looked over some parchment he had begun reading the prior morning. It was old and worn, but its contents had proven to be valuable. It had spoken about the past of the Eye, from the perspective of wise men who had been sworn to protect the power it held with their lives. These first hand accounts had shown Makoto that the Eye not only known to have the power to manipulate dimensions, but its power extended to changing the beings who had been unfortunate to be caught in its wake. While Makoto had concluded the same thing had happened to him and his fellow travelers, it was nice to know that even the ancients had known of this particular side effect.

Makoto sighed. It was frustrating. As much as he learned about the eye during his days and months of studying, he still felt as far from his goal as he did the day he had arrived in El Hazard. Putting down the parchment he continued finishing his breakfast. Ura, her meal finished, now wandered over to a nearby sofa and plopped herself down to rest.

Finishing his own meal, Makoto got ready to continue working. After putting his dishes away he proceeded to his desk and the device he had purchased the day before.

"Okay, lets see what secrets you have to reveal" He said to himself as he proceeded to work.

-----------------

It was done. After ten thousand years of waiting and hoping, it was now done.

Down on her knees, Ifurita looked around the temple ruin where Makoto once stood. Her energy cells were low, she was at critical levels. Without her key staff, she had at most a few hours of reserve energy to go on. Knowing this, she rose slowly but surely to her feet. Stumbling, she walked towards the hole that the earthquake had broken loose. Entering the stairwell she slowly went upstairs.

Resting against a wall, she took in her surroundings.

"The school.." Ifurita said. Looking around, memories flooded into her head.

She could see herself running along the corridor, running after Makoto and Nanami. Entering a classroom, she could see herself seated as a teacher taught the class.

As she wandered the school taking in the sight, her thoughts provided a steady stream of deja-vu everywhere she went. It was comforting.

Eventually she found herself outside in the schoolyard. The sun was starting to rise in the early morning sky, a light wind rustling through the trees.

She came to rest against a chainlink fence at the tennis court. She was starting to feel faint.

She took in the sunrise as the light shone across the court and onto her face.

"Makoto, I leave it to you.." she whispered as she closed her eyes to rest.

It just at that moment that the wind started to whip up around her. Opening her eyes, she looked out onto the court.

In an instant, Ifurita felt her heart shake. It was him. He had returned.

"M.. Makoto!"

With all her strength, she took off running. She reached him, her hand intertwining with his own. She could barely contain her emotions.

"I knew you would come" she said, smiling.

"Im sorry to have kept you waiting." Makoto replied, smiling. She shook her head.

"Having you here is all I need." she said, taking Makoto into her arms as she hugged him.

"Our friends are waiting for us to return. There is so much I want to show you, to tell you.." he said, as he returned her hug. "Are you ready?"

Ifurita looked up at Makoto, and simply smiled her response. Then the two embraced and kissed their first kiss.

As their lips parted, the two began to sink into the portal, continuing their warm embrace as they begun their journey back to El Hazard. Within seconds they were gone, only the wind and the sun witness to what had happened as peace and quiet reigned over the school grounds.

It was not to last.

As soon as the two travelers had left a low rumble began to make itself heard, slowly gaining momentum like a motor revving up. And then it happened: A large explosion ripped through the school, destroying classrooms, hallways, and most of the gymnasium. The blast could be heard for miles as smoke and flames began to rise from the ruined section of the school.

In the midst of all this chaos, a shadow began to make its way across the rubble. it was that of a man walking slowly through the ruin, his long brown robes concealing every inch of his body. His lone appearance breaking through the smoke, walking out of the rubble and across the courtyard.

As he reached the tennis court he stopped. He gazed around. With a faint smirk, he spoke.

"Looks like we're too late. No matter.." he smiled a dark smile. He had greater things to worry about. It was getting late, time was short. With that he proceeded to walk towards the street, rubbing the dust from his blue skinned face and adjusting his slightly burned robes as he walked.

"So this is what they call 'Earth', is it.." he muttered looking around the courtyard, the sun beginning to rise on the horizon. He had heard very little about what to expect when he arrived, his superiors not able to provide much beyond what their spies had learned from the palace. It did not matter though, he had much more important things to worry about. There was much to do, to prepare for. He sighed.

"We have much work to do."

-END-


End file.
